Recently, some very striking demographic analysis has been undertaken into Irish population trends. To cut a long story (or perhaps, a rather intricate analysis) short, it has been suggested that by the year 2050 Ireland could have a population of 20 million (rather than the current 5 million or so), and that fewer than 6 million of these would then be indigenous Irish. If the trends on which this analysis is based continue, then Ireland would in just over one generation have been transformed from having the genetically most homogeneous population in Europe to having one of the most diverse. Indeed, the ‘old’ Irish would not even make up the biggest population group: that would be the Chinese.
This is interesting to me not least because, over the past year, I have visited China twice, and so this has caused me to muse how a ‘Chinese’ Ireland might appear in a few years time, and what it might mean — including what it might mean to organised religion. In China, things are changing faster than any of us could imagine in our own environment. Some of it is rampant materialism, but China is not a country without a hunger for something more profound. My guess is that a Chinese population in Ireland will be an innovative and tolerant and energetic population; those already here show all those signs.
So while I have been musing on this, the Anglican primates meeting in Ireland have been dealing with their own intercultural issues. They have had to confront the reality of a western liberal culture coming under attack, and in an elaborate ritual of trying to sit down somewhere more or less on top of the fence have, predictably, failed to be comfortable in this posture. Nobody could, with any confidence, try to predict what the Anglican family of the year 2050 will look like, based on this evidence from the prelates. But there are few signs that anyone is trying to construct a forward-looking vision of an intercultural Christian world.
My own instinct is to say that western liberalism — at least where it stresses the dignity of human lifestyles which do not hurt or oppress — is by now very well rooted in these soils, and will survive the new cultural mix, and possibly even thrive in it. Our new world is about releasing innovative energy, and not about trying to shoehorn all life and culture into a narrow selection of time capsules.
The church may turn out to be relevant to this, or it may turn out to be just a ghost. The time has come for us to assert the right of Christianity to be a signpost to the future, and not just a grim reminder of some of the less pleasant aspects of our past. We must celebrate diversity and renewal, not be frightened by it. It’s time to realise that the place for Christians is not on the fence.
My own analysis of The Anglican Communion Primates’ Meeting Communiqué, February 2005
can be found on Anglicans Online at The Primates Meeting at Dromantine, February 2005.
Canon Michael Kennedy has sent us this full report on the service of Evensong which was held in Armagh Cathedral on Tuesday at the second day of the Primates’ Meeting:
A service of Choral Evensong was held in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, on Tuesday 22 February 2005 to mark the visit of the primates of the Anglican Communion at which the preacher was the Archbishop of Canterbury…
The service was attended not only by the primates but by the bishops of the Church of Ireland, ecumenical representatives including the Most Revd Dr Sean Brady (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland), and the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Canon Ken Kearon, and his assistant. The Dean and Chapter and other cathedral clergy were present, together with the members of the clergy of Armagh Diocese and the Diocesan Lay Readers and representatives of the parishes of the Diocese. The large procession concluded impressively with the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr John Neill (Primate of Ireland) preceded by the Metropolitan Cross of Dublin; the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Dr Rowan Williams (Primate of All England) preceded by the Primatial Cross of Canterbury; and the Most Revd Dr Robin Eames (Primate of All Ireland) preceded by the Primatial Cross of Armagh.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Paul Murphy, MP and the representative of the government of the Irish Republic, Mr Noel Tracy, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, were present and seated at the front of the nave.
The service was Evening Prayer Two from the 2004 edition of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Ireland with the psalms and canticles in traditional mode (as permitted within the Prayer Book), and it was intoned by the senior clerical vicar choral, the Revd Canon Michael Kennedy. The organist was Theo Saunders, FRCO who played Siciliano for a High Ceremony by Herbert Howells (before the service) and Resurgam - Fantasy-Prelude by Harvey Grace (after the service). The head chorister, Liam Crangle, a gifted young organist in his first year at the Royal School Armagh, played the Slow Movement from Trio in Eb by J.S. Bach before the service.
The theme of the service (chosen for its relevance to the subject-matter of the Primates’ Meeting) was “The Family or Household of God”, and the strong emphasis on fellowship and praise was well represented by the choice of psalms 133 (“Behold how good and joyful a thing it is: brethren to dwell together in unity”) and 134 “Behold now praise the Lord”. The lessons (read by Archbishop Joseph Marona of the Province of the Sudan and Moderator Peter Sugandhar of the Church of South India) were Exodus 19:1-6 (“a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”) and Ephesians 2:13-22 (“fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God”). In an altogether admirable sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury wove thoughts from both passages into his address, applying these in a relevant and balanced way suitable to the occasion, pausing slightly from time to time to allow the message to sink in.
The choral foundation in Armagh in its modern form dates from a Charter of Charles I given in 1634, but can be traced back through the period of the Reformation to the ancient Culdees who were responsible for the music and the liturgy from the eighth century AD. The former organist Martin White (1968-2002, now a lay canon) managed the difficult transition from a partly paid choir to an all voluntary one. Theo Saunders (organist from 2002) has brought in a number of new choristers. Of the twelve present at the Primates’ Service, five were probationers, and all except the head chorister are comparatively recent recruits. Together with the “Gentlemen of the choir” they rose nobly to the occasion. The versicles and responses were those of Aylward, and the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were sung to Noble in B minor. The anthem was “O Thou the Central Orb” by Charles Wood (who was born on Vicars’ Hill and received his musical foundation in Armagh) who is commemorated by the prestigious “Charles Wood Summer School” at the end of August each year.
An emphasis on the Irish dimension was also evident in the choice of hymns, “Be thou my vision”, and the St Patrick’s Breastplate sung in full to the Stanford accompaniment. The office hymn was “O Christ the same” by Timothy Dudley-Smith to the tune of the Londonderry Air. Other hymns were the processionals “All my hope on God is founded” for the entrance, and “The Church’s one Foundation” (on the way out). The highlight was undoubtedly the Breastplate “I bind unto myself today” sung with tremendous enthusiasm by the entire congregation. The sense of participation was quite extraordinary in a building which, small for a cathedral, has a rare quality of being both intimate and splendid with an atmosphere highly conducive to praise and prayer.
The cathdral itself traces its history back to St Patrick who, in one of the lives is said to have been given the hill on which it stands to him to build his Damhliag Mor or Great Stone Church by Daire, a local chieftain, traditionally in 445 AD. It is estimated that in its history the cathedral has been destroyed and rebuilt at least seventeen times — it was destroyed twice by great Irish patriots (Shane O’Neill in 1566 and Sir Phelim O’Neill in 1642). A major renovation took place under Archbishop Lord John George Beresford between 1834 and 1840 with later improvements including the magnificent reredos depicting the Last Supper (with a most villainous looking Judas slipping off with the money bag in the corner) installed in 1913. The organ, a superb instrument, was made by the famous Walker firm in 1840, and was beautifully restored by the Northern Irish firm Wells-Kennedy in 1996. An eleventh century Celtic cross broken in sectarian strife in 1813 was brought into the cathedral by Dean McClintoch in 1916 and stands in the north aisle near a stained glass window which, to the delight of generations of school children includes a boy with two left feet!
During the service (the Archbishop of Armagh occupying the throne on the south side of the chancel) the Archbishop of Canterbury sat on the famous Bramhall chair, given to the Cathedral by Archbishop John Bramhall (1661-3) at the time of the Restoration, and the Archbishop of Dublin sat on the Margetson chair, given by Bramhall’s successor.
Clearly this service took place at a tense and difficult time for the churches of the Anglican Communion. It is hoped that the music and the liturgy in Armagh Cathedral, combined with the Gospel message of reconciliation and peace and common membership of the Church which is the Body of Christ will prove to have been an inspiration for the Primates as they have thought and prayed together about matters of common concern. The occasional prayers, led by the Dean of Armagh, the Very Revd Herbert Cassidy, included a petition to “maintain the bonds of affection between the churches of the Anglican family — our household of faith.
Press coverage continues…
Associated Press Nigerians, Anglicans Clash Over Gays
Telegraph Clifford Longley It’s independence day - again
Observer Will Hutton A schism that threatens us all
BBC Anglican split ‘a matter of time’
The BBC World Service has an interview with Josiah Idowu-Fearon (about 27 minutes, starts about 30 seconds into the recording)
…In this week’s edition of The Interview, Owen Bennett-Jones goes to the heart of the matter in his conversation with Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Archbishop of Kaduna state in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Anglican church - one of the biggest communities in the communion - has led the criticism over the appointment of homosexual clergy. The row began in 2003 when the American Episcopal Church ordained an openly gay bishop…
The BBC radio programme Sunday which has a larger audience than many Sunday newspapers sell copies carried this:
Primates Meeting listen here with Real Audio (14 minutes)
Was it a fudge, the beginning of the end, or a step back from the brink? I refer to the communique issued by the Primates of the Anglican Communion at the end of their crisis meeting in Northern Ireland this week. One observer said “The Primates have handed the North Americans a pearl handled revolver”. The communique dealt almost exclusively with the split between the North American churches, which have consecrated as bishop someone who has a homosexual partner and which have blessed same sex marriages, and conservative Christians in the rest of the world who believe practising homosexuality is a sin, and who have called for the liberal North Americans to repent. Caught in the middle is the Archbishop of Canterbury. Roger hears from the conservative Archbishop of the West Indies, Drexel Gomez, and the Presiding Bishop of Ecusa, Frank Griswold, and then talks live to The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, from Lambeth Palace.
Press Association report on the above radio interview, Williams Admits Gay Row has Caused Serious “Fractures”
BBC report of the interview Williams admits church ‘fracture’
BBC World Service Divine division? listen here
Graham Kings and Stephen Bates interviewed about the Primates’ Meeting on BBC World Service World Update (hat tip KH)
Some other items not reported earlier:
BBC interview of a spokesman for Peter Akinola, on Saturday’s Today Programme: listen here (3.5 minutes)
CNEWS Gay debate divides Anglican faith
Toronto Globe and Mail Top cleric faces rift among Anglicans
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steve Levin Anglicans push U.S. church off key council
Two Church of Ireland press releases:
Irish Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) members comment on recent devlopments in the Anglican Communion
Bishop of Cork asks: “Has Anglican Primates’ Meeting exceeded its powers?”
Ruth Gledhill wrote up the Armagh Evensong for the regular Times Saturday feature At Your Service which can be compared with the account of this service from an insider published exclusively here.
Press coverage of the meeting continues.
Updated Saturday 9 a.m.
Church Times has updates to the paper edition:
Pat Ashworth Primates speak of ‘miraculous’ unanimity
and an editorial Fall-out from the Primates’ Meeting
(earlier report Let Christ unite you, Primates advised)
The Times
Ruth Gledhill Americans must admit gay error, says Church
THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made it clear yesterday that the Anglican churches of the US and Canada will have to admit that they are in the wrong over homosexuality if the unity of the Anglican Church is to be preserved.
Dr Williams, speaking in Northern Ireland at the end of the week-long primates’ discussions of the crisis that has brought the Church to the brink of schism, said: “There is no painless solution.
“Any lasting solution will require people to say, somewhere along the line, that they were wrong, wrong about something. What, I do not know. That is for them to determine. It is perfectly possible to take a decision in good faith and afterwards to think, ‘I had not counted the cost’.” …
and an editorial article Come on all ye faithful
…Were God to focus on the question of elevating homosexuals to the Anglican episcopate, He would, presumably, distinguish at once between disagreement based on genuine respect for Scripture, and the contortion of Scripture in order to camouflage mere prejudice. There seems little doubt, however, that the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church in Canada have undervalued unity in their precipitate and unilateral moves in favour of same-sex unions and gay bishops. Neither development is necessarily incompatible with Anglican harmony in the long term, but in the short term the suspension of both churches from the Anglican Consultative Council is wise. Time has been bought, and, God willing, sanity and sanctity will prevail.
Guardian
Stephen Bates Church schism feared despite deal on gays
Owen Bowcott ‘Punishment is for doing what we are all meant to do’
Mark Lawson His only ‘ism’ is schism
and an editorial Divided they stand
Telegraph
Jonathan Petre Church remains at risk of schism on homosexuality, warns Williams
and an editorial Anglicans must fight to keep their Communion
Independent
No easy solution to Anglican split, says Williams
and an editorial (text below the fold).
Scotsman
Archbishop of Canterbury can’t rule out schism over gay clergy
Financial Times
Deal averts split over gay bishops
New York Times
Move to Halt Delegations Is Challenging Episcopalians
Washington Post
Episcopalians Affirm Pro-Gay View
Sydney Morning Herald
Anglican leaders split over gays
National Public Radio
Gay Issues Cause Dischord Within Anglican Union
PBS Television
Anglican Primates Meeting
Episcopal News Service has a page of material, including audio of the press conference and an interview with Frank Griswold:
Primates Meeting 2005 - News and Resources
The BBC has done a major write-through of the story at this URL now titled Lasting split looms for Anglicans which also includes links to a substantial video clip of the press conference and a BBC TV news report.
Belfast Telegraph
Gay row move not a mere fudge, warns Eames
This Life: Finding right way in the sex maze
Independent leader
An act of intolerance by the Anglican church
However the church leaders explain it, the Anglican communion is now heading for an irrevocable split over the issue of gay bishops and single-sex marriage. In a very Church of England manner the primates meeting in Newry, Northern Ireland, yesterday tried to put an emollient gloss on their decision to ask the offending Episcopal Church in the US and the Church of Canada to withdraw their representatives from the governing body of the worldwide church, saying that the withdrawal was only “temporary” to give them time to reconsider their position.
Temporary in this case, however, is all too likely to lead to permanent exclusion. The two recalcitrant churches are in no mood to change their mind on gay marriage and clergy. Nor is there any reason why they should. Their congregations feel that, in the modern world, the church must come to terms with the sexuality of its flock as it is practicised. The teachings of Christ, on their interpretation, do not condemn it. Why should they?
For the majority of the primates called together for this meeting, however, there can be no temporising with the traditional interpretation of the scriptures. Marriage between man and woman is the sacred centre of family life. To sanction sexuality in any other form would be to betray the church’s dearest beliefs. And it is the traditionalists that are in the ascendant not just in the Third World but in the fastest growing parts of the church here..
The Anglican church is not alone in this. The Roman Catholics have similar tensions, only partially suppressed by the authority and conservatism of the present pope. But the Roman Catholic church has the advantage of a disciplined institution in which obedience has a high priority. Anglicanism has always made a virtue of its ambiguity and its willingness to tolerate a broad spectrum of views within its ranks.
In this context yesterday’s decision of its worldwide leaders can only be regarded as a negative one. The majority said that they were not prepared to continue communing with the US and Canadian churches while they proceeded on their liberal path. And it was the majority that prevailed. The responsibility for the split was placed firmly on the two North American churches, the onus for mending the fissure was clearly put on their shoulders. That is wrong for the church and wrong for its future.
updated Friday evening
ACNS picture of the press briefing here
BBC
Anglican rift grows over gay row (This story has now been updated to reflect the briefing)
Anglicans deny gay clergy split
Q&A: Anglican church split
Associated Press
Anglican Leaders Ask U.S. to Leave Council
and, later Archbishop: Anglicans Could Face Division
The Times
Archibishop acknowledges the Church may split
Should the Anglican Church split over homosexuals?
Guardian
Lesbian and gay Anglicans deny schism
Belfast Telegraph
Gay issue widening Anglican divisions
Reuters
Anglican Church Divisions Over Gays Widens
North American Anglicans Defend Gay Policies
Beliefnet
In Anglican Report, There’s Something for Everyone, Once Again
Further American responses from ENS
A word from the Presiding Bishop
Anglican primates uphold unity in response to Windsor Report
CTV No ruling on Anglican church withdrawal: official
Further Canadian response via Anglican Journal
Church sanctions could have been worse: primate
Request from Primates’ Meeting is not an enforceable decision - Bishop of Cork
Reports filed before the briefing:
Press Association Church Warned over Stance on Homosexuality
Sydney Morning Herald Sex drives wedge in Anglican ranks
Associated Press Anglican Leaders Seek Split Over Gay Issue
Due to the early issuance of the Primates Meeting Communiqué the press briefing at Dromantine has been rescheduled to 2 30 pm.
ACO press release Explanatory note: The Anglican Consultative Council
The ACO website has (or will have) additional material relating to the primates’ Windsor Report discussions (these are mentioned in the footnotes to the communique itself):
PRESENTATION OF THE WINDSOR REPORT 2004 by Archbishop Robin Eames - this is 5 pages on the web
Reception Process Report Given by Primus Bruce Cameron at the Primates Meeting 2005 - this is 8 pages on the web and leads to Powerpoint slides and PDF files#
Photographs from the Primates Meeting, February 2005
British press coverage this morning:
Press Association Church Tells Pro-Gay Anglicans to ‘Consider Position’
Reuters Anglicans Face Temporary Split in Gay Row
Guardian Church faces schism today
The Times Anglicans ready to split over gay bishop
Independent Gay row forces split with North American Anglicans
Telegraph Anglicans give ultimatum to pro-gay liberals
Audio of first report on BBC Today Programme at 0632 listen here (3 minutes)
Second report at 0709 listen here (6 minutes) - interviews with Steven Charleston and Philip Giddings
Third report at 0810 listen here (6 minutes) interview with Peter Carnley
BBC reports
Anglican rift grows over gay row
BBC Analysis: Anglican schism nears reality
Can Anglican rift be resolved? invites comments from the public. Thinking Anglicans encourages you to comment to the BBC.
New York Times Anglican Leaders Seek Move to Avoid Schism
Los Angeles Times U.S., Canada Churches Urged to Leave Key Anglican Council
Canadian responses:
A Statement from the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada
Anglican Journal Primates move to sanction North American churches
American response:
Primates’ Meeting Communiqué - From the Presiding Bishop:
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Frank Griswold, has issued this statement about the communiqué:
“The primates of the Anglican Communion and Moderators of the United Churches have just completed their work on the attached communiqué which gives some sense of our meeting this week in Northern Ireland. These days have not been easy for any of us and the communiqué reflects a great deal of prayer and the strong desire to find a way forward as a Communion in the midst of deep differences which have been brought into sharp relief around the subject of homosexuality.
“Clearly, all parts of the communiqué will not please everyone. It is important to keep in mind that it was written with a view to making room for a wide variety of perspectives. I continue to have faith and confidence in the many ways in which the mystery of communion is lived among us, and am grateful that bonds of understanding and affection to bind us together and call us to an ever deeper and more costly living out of the reconciliation brought about by Jesus through the Cross. Again this week it was revealed that so much more unites us than divides us.”
“The Presiding Bishop will make a further comment tomorrow.”
The Primates, meeting in Northern Ireland, have issued this communiqué
The main points seem to be:
The BBC referred this morning to the “Battle for the political heart of Anglicanism” being fought out at Armagh between the Anglican primates, over issues about same sex couples.
It is fascinating that this is seen as a particularly Anglican issue, when the same difficulties are found in other churches, as a Baptist observer said at the Church of England’s General Synod last week. The reason must lie in the history of the Anglican Church, the close founding link of Church and state, particularly in the way that relations were defined and described in Richard Hooker’s monumental Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity 400 years ago. Since that time, with bishops in the House of Lords, there has been a close correspondence between the laws of Church and State to the extent that it is often difficult to discover which is which. We’re reaping some of the problems associated with this in the upsets over the marriage plans of Prince Charles and Camilla, and it is fascinating to find that European Human Rights legislation needs to be invoked to say they can legally marry in an English register office outside the gates of Windsor Castle.
Whilst the Church of England was little more than a national church (leaving aside the Scottish Episcopal Church and its great legacy to the Episcopal Church of the USA) it might have seemed that laws of Church and State could be seen to correspond. But, with the growth of the British Empire and the exporting of the national church into other cultures, conflicts were bound to arise.
A particular problem was the prevailing polygamy found in of parts of Africa. Whilst Christianity did not allow polygamy, there was a certain tolerance of it for those who were not Christians, and often a blind eye was turned to the ancient droit de seigneur of local rulers to collect a large harem of young women. Things only came to a head when Mwanga, the ruler of Uganda in 1886, wanted boys, not girls, for his bed. The Christian pages began to refuse his advances, so he had them put to death. They included Catholics and Anglicans. On their way to the place of execution, these young Christians sang hymns in honour of the Lord and some were still singing when the flames surrounded them. Since then they have been regarded as founding martyrs of the Christian Church. It is salutary to think, however, that few people would have shed tears over maids in waiting, had the ruler preferred girls. Not surprisingly, the Church of Uganda, in honouring its founding martyrs, strongly opposes homosexual relationships today, as Britain did in the time when Oscar Wilde went to prison.
So long as the Empire continued, many local cultures were suppressed. Today, with the independence of nations which were once British, the differences emerge. Pakistan is a largely Muslim country, competent to make its own laws. In Muslim law it is legal for a man to take four wives. The Christian Church there, whilst holding different views, would never dare to advocate these for anyone outside their own flock. Equally, the Christians there know that the acceptance of homosexual relationships would lead to the burning of Christian churches and the persecution of Christians. The Church is not in a position to advocate different rules from those of the state.
In a worldwide Communion, Anglicans have to accept that we are not in the driving seat when it comes to making laws. There is in Pakistan, in Uganda, and in other places a complete abhorrence of homosexual activity.
Equally, in Europe, it is secular Human Rights law which is in the driving seat, not the laws of national churches. Today the British Navy asks the advice of gay rights groups about the best way to encourage recruitment of homosexual men and women. Gay rights are enshrined in the law of the land. They are seen as just as important as the rights of people of different races, or the rights of women, and all are protected by law.
In much of Europe, in the USA, and in Canada, discrimination against gay people is now being consigned to history, along with slavery and the lack of universal suffrage. It is only shameful that the Church, which was in the forefront of the campaign to free slaves, still treats women and gay people as being less than fully human, with impaired human rights. Speaking out and saying that a faith founded on the incarnation has to be a faith which respects the dignity of all people has required great courage. Fundamentalism still tries to steal the political heart of the Anglican Church. There is a rearguard action against the ordination of women to the episcopate.
In much of the USA, Canada, Britain and Southern Africa, the battle is over. National laws guarantee the rights of women, of gay people and different races. The Church is doing little more than catching up with what governments, nationally and internationally, have agreed.
At the same time it is totally impossible for Anglicans in many other parts of the world to uphold a viewpoint which is so much at odds with their own national culture and laws. Pakistan and Uganda will want to be different. But we need to be grown up enough to accept that.
The Anglican Communion was never intended to be, and cannot be monolithic. We have to accept (Article 34 in the Prayer Book) that there will be national differences. “It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies in all places be one, and utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversities of countries.”
These articles were honed out of the bitter controversies of the Reformation, out of the martyrdom of John Fisher, Thomas More, Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer and the rest. And in the time of Elizabeth people realised that there had to be an end to blood letting. Christians had to learn to live together in peace, and respect differences of conscience and custom. We need to learn the lesson again.
updated Thursday afternoon
News from Northern Ireland today is in fact non-existent, but tomorrow there will be a press conference at 5.30 pm
Primates Meeting Press Briefing
and The Living Church reports
Team to Prepare Final Statement of Primates
The BBC Radio 4 Today Programme has this report followed by a discussion with Peter Jensen and Colin Slee: listen here (Real Audio)
BBC Gay priest row ‘threatens Bible’
Press Association Church ‘May Have to Split over Homosexuality’
Reuters Sydney primate warns of church split on gays
Toronto Globe and Mail Anglican churches battle over conflicting beliefs
The Church of England Newspaper has these reports, related to the Northern Ireland meeting:
Primates take first step to implement Windsor
Synod backs Windsor as liberals receive warning
Primates Meeting: the key players
Later reports
Belfast Telegraph Gay row: Anglican leaders prepare update
The Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 received Royal Assent in July 2003. It is likely to come into effect towards the end of this year. There is a very good summary of both the current and new arrangements here on the Oxford diocesan website. Note however that the new measure does not apply to “matters involving doctrine, ritual or ceremonial”. These will continue to be governed by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963.
Before the new arrangements can come into effect, Rules (to carry into effect the provisions of the Measure) and a Code of Practice (providing guidance, explanation and best practice) need to be finalised by the Rule Committee and the Clergy Discipline Commission respectively, approved by Synod and, in the case of the Rules, laid before Parliament in the form of a Statutory Instrument under the ‘negative resolution’ procedure.
The Rule Committee and the Commission have drafted the Rules and the Code of Practice and they are now seeking comments. Full details of the consultation and how to make comments are here.
The measure and the drafts are online here:
Clergy Discipline Measure 2003
draft Rules
draft Code of Practice
The drafts are each about 3.5 MB and contain a total of 139 pages.
The intention is that the Rules and Code of Practice will be brought to General Synod for approval in July 2005. As a result the closing date for the consultation is midday on Tuesday 5 April 2005 and this deadline will be strictly observed.
The members of the Clergy Discipline Commission are listed here.
Updated Wednesday afternoon
Morning reports from British journalists in Northern Ireland:
Stephen Bates in the Guardian
Bishops pray together amid rumours of split
Tolerance is absent from their lexicon
Ruth Gledhill in The Times
Church plea for unity over gays
BBC
Call for peace in gay bishops row
Belfast Telegraph Church should be a place of sanctuary: Archbishop - Let us keep doors open, says Williams
Primates Meeting 2005: Photographs from Armagh
Later reports
BBC Will Africa split the Anglican Church?
Reuters Archbishop pleads for calm over gays
This is the prepared text for the maiden speech given by Brian Lewis in the General Synod debate on the Windsor Report last Thursday. Brian is Rector of St Michael & All Angels, Little Ilford (Manor Park)in the Diocese of Chelmsford.
I felt very disappointed when I read the House of Bishops report on the Windsor Report. In his Advent Pastoral letter the Archbishop had written that one of the deepest challenges of the Windsor Report is about repentance. And in the Church we can never call on others to repent without ourselves acknowledging that we too in all sorts of ways are sinners in need of grace. We all need to be involved in this repentance, and it seems to me that this recognition that we all need to repent is missing from the Bishops’ report.
The current crisis in the Anglican Communion and the need for the Windsor report is apparently because of the different ways that different parts of the Communion approach the subject of homosexuality. For nearly thirty years now, successive Lambeth Conferences have addressed the question of homosexuality and called on us as the Anglican Communion to engage in a process of dialogue, study and listening. For nearly thirty years we have largely ignored that call, and we have totally ignored the way that other parts of the communion, specifically those parts of the Communion who have had most difficulty coming to terms with what has happened in New Hampshire, have refused to engage in that process. We do need to be repentant of how we have handled that. We have failed the wider communion when we have not used opportunities to share the dialogues we have been able to have in this country simply because it is legal to have those dialogues. You may have heard about a radio station in Nigeria broadcasting a programme which had three gay Nigerians talking about their lives. That programme was against the law. The radio station was fined for simply allowing gay people, in a secular context, to talk about their lives. We need to take account of how difficult it is for people to share their experiences in other parts of the communion and we might have done much more to help.
Working in East London odd opportunities arise. One Sunday morning, unannounced, five Kenyan priests arrived in church for the Sunday Eucharist - they were travelling through on the way back from a conference. It was just before the Archbishop’s enthronement, they had heard that he had ordained a gay man, so we talked about what that meant in our culture. About the place of gay people in our society, about what it means to be gay in our culture. I talked about my pastoral experience, about a bereavement visit where the widow quite naturally introduced her son and his partner as her second son. My visitors were astounded, it was a revelation to them that such a thing could happen. As I talked about the place gay people have in our culture, they talked about Kenyan society, about marriage and what it is to be unmarried in Kenyan culture. They learnt from me, and I learnt from them, we learnt from each other. An isolated story - but it needn’t have been, how often might we have learnt from each other if we had used, for example, link diocesan visits and exchanges to really learn what each others cultures are about and what it is to minister in them. Perhaps we need to repent of being too frightened, or just not caring enough, to talk about the difficult issues, the things we would disagree about.
You may have heard about a retired bishop in Uganda who has tried to begin the process of dialogue and pastoral support for gay Ugandan Christians. He faced tremendous opposition from his church. He was forbidden to preach and officiate, and even told at one point he would be refused a Christian burial. Perhaps we should have more visibly offered support and encouragement, after all he is doing what successive Lambeth conferences have been asking for. When he was suspended by the Ugandan church perhaps we should have been more overt and public in our support of him and our bishops might have intervened on his behalf. Calling one another to account is part of what the Archbishop was talking about in his pastoral letter when he spoke of living in the full interdependence of love.
The Bishop of Durham has spoken to us being in a desperate state of emergency, but that ignores the fact things are still happening, our communion is still functioning - things may not be as dire as he would have us believe. On the feast of Epiphany in the Diocese of Kajo Keji in the Sudan, there was a great occasion, an ordination of thirty-four deacons and three priests. Bishop Paul Marshall of ECUSA had been due to visit the diocese but in the light of the Windsor Report had offered to cancel his visit not wanting his presence to be a cause for embarrassment. But with the support of his Primate the Diocesan Bishop not only renewed his invitation, he rescheduled the ordinations so that Bishop Marshall could ordain the thirty-four deacons and with him the three priests. It also seems to me that we are too ready to hear the stories of broken relationships and not where the communion is strong.
And a story from me, I was born in New Zealand and ordained priest there twenty five years ago, and even longer ago than that I remember a debate in my diocesan synod on the subject of homosexuality. The synod resolved not to discriminate in employment on the grounds of sexual orientation. The debate was certainly about clergy and presumably that included bishops. The sky did not fall in, no African prelates imploded. It may have been because we were all concerned about something that seemed much more controversial - rugby. Should the Allblacks play the Springboks? We were engaged with supporting the Church in South Africa’s battle with apartheid. Throughout New Zealand society and the churches were deeply divided about the sporting boycott of South Africa. Rugby is what threatened to split the church not homosexuality. How have we come to this point today?
If the Anglican Communion falls apart in the next few months, might - just might - it not be because of something that happened in New Hampshire but because for twenty five years we have ignored the call of three Lambeth conferences to talk, to listen, to study, to learn.
The Church of Ireland had a press release Church of Ireland welcomes Primates to Dromantine.
The Belfast Telegraph published St Patrick’s to welcome church heads.
The Episcopal News Service which earlier had Anglican Primates: An Overview, and Presiding Bishop preaches at Belfast Cathedral has also published the report of Cedric Pulford from Ecumenical News International Anglican leaders meet to debate division on gay bishop consecration.
Jane Lampman wrote in the Christian Science Monitor that Mainline churches struggle over gay policy.
A related story from Canada is Anglican position on same-sex marriage has not changed, Primate says which refers specifically to the internal position of the Anglican Church of Canada.
Reuters Global rifts emerge as Christianity moves south
Updated Monday afternoon
The Associated Press issued Expectations low for Anglican meeting
Reuters has Anglicans could face schism over gay priests
Monday’s editorial in The Times (extract reprinted below the fold) is headed
Faith and hope
The Anglican Church needs to be firm but not inflexible on homosexuality
Ruth Gledhill provides a related news report in Anglican world leaders face walk-out at summit on gays
The Telegraph has several stories by Jonathan Petre:
Separate Communions for primates in gay clergy row
Archbishop is facing lost cause as he tries to prevent split in world Church
Liberals want to interpret the Bible their way
The Guardian’s Stephen Bates has two stories:
Archbishop fights to prevent split
Anglicans in tense effort to avoid split
BBC Northern Ireland has Anglican leaders meet in province
Toronto Globe and Mail has Anglicans grapple with rift over homosexuality
My own report for Anglicans Online can be read here:
The General Synod, the Windsor Report and the Primates Meeting
BBC Today Programme Real Audio segment: listen (4 minutes)
0744 The leaders of the world’s 38 Anglican churches begin a meeting today in Newry in which they’ll try to find a way of preventing a permanent split over homosexuality.
Belfast Telegraph Homosexuality top of the agenda at church conference
Extract from Times leader:
…If action is not forthcoming, an undisguisable schism is all but inevitable. This would be a regrettable outcome. It is one that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has sought to avoid. Having burnt his fingers through his own part in the abandoned scheme to install Jeffrey John as the suffragan Bishop of Reading, Dr Williams has since sought to put the unity of the Church ahead of pursuing radical and contentious initiatives.
He will, therefore, whatever his private instincts, attempt to convince the American Church and the Anglican Church of Canada (which has endorsed same-sex blessings) to step back from these practices pending further debate. The primates from these provinces would be wise to heed him. This is an argument not just about human sexuality but where authority lies in the Anglican community. Even those most sympathetic to the decision to appoint Bishop Robinson are aware that this was a unilateral decision, taken in calculated defiance of the established procedures for governing the Church. If this action were to be ignored, there would be little to stop other Anglican bodies engaging in their own, wildly different, interpretations of Scripture. Anglicanism would then be not so much a broad church as one with little shared basis.
It should not be necessary to suspend the North American Church, but that may be the only way to avert a much deeper schism. A “cooling-off period” would be welcome, before any final and potentially explosive move to expel these provinces. American Episcopalians are themselves split on this matter. If the issue is forced, the majority, feeling pressure from the laity, could return to the fold.
To assert this is not to endorse an unduly dogmatic line on homosexuality. There is more than one side to the discussion over how best to read the Bible on this question. What is obvious, nonetheless, is that the North American Church has rashly raised the stakes here, rather than proceeding with the measured caution that has ultimately allowed the Church to welcome women priests without a catastrophic split. This controversy will doubtless be revisited again and again. But unless the primates can agree on a way forward this week, there will not be a truly international Anglican Communion within which to conduct the debate.
First on the Sunday programme:
Meeting of the Anglican Primates
The meeting of the 38 provincial Primates of the Anglican Communion begins in Newry on Monday. It is a showdown between the majority, who are opposed to the ordination of actively gay bishops and clergy, and ECUSA, the Episcopal Church of the United States, and its supporters in Canada, who actively support and carry out such ordinations. Such is the impasse that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams asked the Communion’s chief fixer, Archbishop Robin Eames, to chair a commission to try and resolve the issue, which threatens to tear the Communion apart. It is that commission’s so called Windsor Report that is being discussed in Newry.
Listen (7m 04s)with Real Audio to interviews with Frank Griswold and Gregory Venables.
Lots of other items in today’s issue of Sunday are also of interest to Anglicans.
A piece from the Management pages of the Business section of the Observer by Simon Caulkin:
When the devil is in the details
How would you appraise a vicar’s performance? By the number, length and quality of sermons? Attendance at church? Out of wedlock births? Ratio of marriages to divorce? Doctrinal purity?
This intriguing question was raised by proposals put forward last week by the Church of England’s General Synod to make incompetent vicars easier to sack, and to subject them to the kind of performance measures that apply to other workers.
Don’t laugh: even our box may be less satirical than you think. In one study, a Norwegian hospital chaplain had performance measures that counted not only bedside visits, but also the number of last rites he performed. In fact, the church’s measurement problem illustrates with blinding clarity the tensions inherent in all performance management.
Read it all. But don’t take it too literally. The sidebar or “box” mentioned above is at the foot of the webpage. More about the real CofE proposals for ministerial review in a while.
The Sunday Times has a report by Christopher Morgan that says: Churchgoers ordered to pray for Camilla.
This refers to the wording of the BCP prayer for the Royal Family, which can be (and periodically is) altered by Royal Warrant (not by Parliament or the General Synod) to reflect births, marriages and deaths. According to Morgan the new wording will be:
“Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness, we humbly beseech thee to bless Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall.”
Kendall Harmon whose blog is at titusonenine has the Face to Faith column today’s Guardian: Anglicanism at the crossroads.
The original version of this is rather longer and can be read here. I recommend this longer version to understand more accurately what Kendall thinks about this. I noted particularly his last paragraph as originally written:
“There are… limits to diversity,” says the Windsor Report, and the Anglican Communion has reached them in the current crisis. “These limits are defined by truth and charity” (TWR 86) which together with courageous leadership can enable the honest facing of the depth of the problem with the awesome sacrifice needed by all to enable a solution. The future of the third largest Christian family in the world is at stake.
Theo Hobson has had two major articles published this week. Theo is author of Against Establishment: an Anglican polemic and Anarchy, Church and Utopia: Rowan Williams on Church (published next month); both published by Darton Longman and Todd.
Get off your knees, Dr Williams was in The Times on Tuesday.
Awkward partners was in The Tablet today.
The Times article included this:
[The Church of England] …desperately needs to interest people in its version of Christianity; but establishment is a major turn-off. Before 2002, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, would have agreed with this analysis. Being Welsh, he had never had to pledge allegiance to the Queen, and he looked upon the establishment of the Church of England with scepticism. In 2000 he said: “I think that the notion of the monarch as supreme governor has outlived its usefulness. I believe increasingly that the Church has to earn the right to be heard by the social world. Establishment is just one of those things that make it slightly harder.”In 2002, when he began to be talked about as a contender for Canterbury, these remarks were dug up, and he hastily issued a press release in an attempt to re-bury them. “This is a matter which is quite clearly not at the top of the agenda for the Church of England,” he assured us. It is a shame that Dr Williams has not been more open about his doubts. For they are longstanding, and central to his theology. As long ago as 1998 he gave warning against any idea of “the Church’s guardianship of the Christian character of a nation . . . which so easily becomes the Church’s endorsement of the de facto structures and constraints of the life of a sovereign state.”
Upon his appointment to Canterbury, he shoved his disestablishing sympathies into the closet. Surely he should reach out to those with similar feelings — young, confused Anglicans especially — and tell them it’s OK. It’s OK to feel slightly nauseated by grand occasions of state, to feel that royalist pageantry stifles the spirit of Jesus Christ; and the occasional republican fantasy is nothing to be ashamed of.
Instead, he seems to have taken fright at the weakness of the Church. Maybe one cannot afford to be too honest, when Christian values are so precarious in this culture. Maybe an honest discussion of establishment would make the institution look muddled, weak and inward-looking. Better to look tough and united. Better to keep one’s core constituency on board, and make pleasant noises about the rich national legacy of the Christian monarchy. If in doubt, play the holy heritage card — it will always please the millions of lukewarm, middle-class Anglicans.
And there is another reason to keep deferring the disestablishment debate. The argument about homosexual ordination has shown the Church to be a very shaky marriage between the poles of liberal Catholics and conservative Evangelicals. This frail coalition might collapse without establishment. So it is a genuinely dangerous topic in the present climate.
Christopher Howse in the Telegraph writes about women’s ordination under the title Dressing up in clerical clothes.
Three more answers, this group relating to discrimination on grounds of gender.
Q5 The Revd Canon Penny Driver (Ripon & Leeds) to ask the Secretary General:
In the House of Bishops’ paper HB(05)M1 (“Summary of Decisions”), item no.14 refers to the House giving its approval in principle to a way of amending the law to address a legal difficulty which would otherwise arise when a new EU directive comes into force in October. Please could we know what this amendment is, how it will be done and why?
Answer by the Secretary General [William Fittall]
In the next few weeks the Department for Trade and Industry will be publishing draft regulations to bring UK law into line with the amended Equal Treatment Directive adopted by the EC in 2002. One amendment to Westminster legislation would involve a consequential amendment to the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 in relation to the law on discrimination. As a result the DTI has, under the normal constitutional convention, consulted the Church. The House of Bishops and Archbishops’ Council have both given their approval to the Government’s proposed approach, which will enable the Church to maintain its present arrangements in a way consistent with European law.
I shall circulate a more detailed explanation to Synod members once the Government’s consultation document has been published.
Q56 Mrs Christina Rees (St Albans) to ask the Chairman of the Legal Advisory Commission:
Has the Legal Advisory Commission considered the application of the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967 to those ordained by male bishops who were themselves ordained to the priesthood by female bishops and if not, would it do so now?
Answer by Professor David McClean as Chairman of the Legal Advisory Commission
As I reported to the Synod in answer to Questions last July, the Commission has considered the effect in England of acts of women bishops of other provinces of the Anglican Communion. Its Opinion is available on the Church of England website. [and more accessible here]
Provided that the various acts of ordination and consecration in Mrs Rees’s question all took place in Provinces of the Anglican Communion outside the British Isles, the case she describes is a variant of those in paragraph 29 of the Opinion. It comes within the principle set out in the Opinion, that the validity of ordinations is a matter of the canon law of the Province in which they take place. Assuming the ordinations are valid on that basis, those ordained in the circumstances Mrs Rees describes could apply for permission under the 1967 Measure. Whether permission is granted is a matter for the Archbishop’s discretion.
Q57 Mr David Warner (St Albans) to ask the Chairman of the Legal Advisory Commission:
Has the Legal Advisory Commission considered whether, when and if women are consecrated bishops in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, they and those ordained by them will be free to exercise their ministries in the Church of England without requiring permission from the relevant archbishop under the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967?
Answer by Professor David McClean as Chairman of the Legal Advisory Commission
Yes, it has, in the Opinion I have mentioned in my reply to Mrs Rees. Bishops of other Anglican Provinces in the British Isles are not “overseas bishops” for the purposes of the 1967 Measure, and it therefore does not apply to them or those ordained by them.
The Opinion explains that it would be misconduct for a woman bishop from any of these provinces to exercise episcopal functions in England without the diocesan bishop’s authority. The general principles expounded in the Opinion suggest that the diocesan bishop could not lawfully give such authority.
A person ordained by a[n] Anglican bishop in Scotland or Ireland could be invited to officiate in England under the Episcopal Church (Scotland) Act 1964 or the Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1995. The legal position is less clear-cut in the case of Wales, but in principle the answer would be the same.
Report of related July 2004 question is here.
The BBC Parliament channel will be rebroadcasting its coverage of the General Synod debate held last Thursday morning about the Windsor Report.
The retransmission starts at 3.00 p.m. GMT on Sunday, and lasts 195 minutes. Details here.
Updated
to include business done on Thursday afternoon.
Press reports of Thursday morning’s debate:
BBC Synod backs regret at gay bishop
Press Association Homosexuality Row Leaves Church in ‘Agony’ - Archbishop
Associated Press Archbishop sees ‘no cost-free outcome’ to split over gay bishop
Reuters Anglican Church Deeply Wounded in Gay Row -Williams
Evening Standard Church acts to end split over gay clergy
Agence France-Presse Gay clergy row has damaged Anglican church, archbishop admits
Guardian Stephen Bates Gay clergy debate will hurt us, says archbishop
The Guardian has this editorial: Not of this world
The Times Ruth Gledhill Williams tells liberals they risk damaging the Church
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Archbishop pledges to take tough action in Church gay row
Yorkshire Post Michael Brown Archbishop’s agony as the threat of schism over gay row haunts Synod
Windsor Report debate
Text of Bishop Tom Wright’s opening speech (note this is text as prepared, not a transcript as delivered)
Text of Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech (transcript)
The official report of business done on Thursday morning is here as an RTF file and the section relating to the Windsor Report is copied here below the fold. Details of the amendments proposed (none of which were approved) appear below that. They are taken from the Order Paper for the morning’s business here as an RTF file.
Thursday afternoon
Press coverage:
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Let us bless this recycling bin
Ekklesia Synod sings ‘halle-loo-jah’
Press Association Bishop Flushed with Success over Water Saving Scheme
The official report of business done on Thursday afternoon is here as an RTF file
The Order Paper for the afternoon’s business is here as an RTF file
In summary:
The synod debated the motion concerning Senior Church Appointments
700 The motion (as amended by Items 710 and 711)
‘That this Synod:
(i) consider that the Church should adopt an integrated and consistent method for the making of appointments to senior ecclesiastical office (other than diocesan bishops) to ensure that all appointments are transparent and encourage the confidence of the Church in the procedures that support the final selection; and
(ii) request the Archbishops’ Council to commission a working party (to be chaired by a person independent of the Council and the Synod) to review and make recommendations (without limitation) as to the law and practice regarding appointments to the offices of suffragan bishop, dean, archdeacon and residentiary canon, including:
(A) the role and practice adopted by diocesan bishops in the making of nominations to suffragan sees; and
(B) the role of the Crown in the making of appointments to the other senior Church offices referred to above and how it is discharged, and for the Archbishops’ Council to report back to the Synod within eighteen months of the date of this debate.’
was carried.
The synod then debated SHARING GOD’S PLANET: Report by the Mission and Public Affairs Council (PDF format)
The motion originally proposed was amended in various ways, and the final result was that:
The motion (as amended by Items 38, 39, 46 and 48)
‘That this Synod
(a) commend Sharing God’s Planet as a contribution to Christian thinking and action on environmental issues;
(b) challenge itself and all members of the Church of England to make care for creation, and repentance for its exploitation, fundamental to their faith, practice, and mission;
© lead by example by promoting study on the scale and nature of lifestyle change necessary to achieve sustainability, and initiatives encouraging immediate action towards attaining it;
(d) encourage parishes, diocesan and national Church organizations to carry out environmental audits and adopt specific and targeted measures to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources and ask the Mission and Public Affairs Council to report on outcomes achieved to the July 2008 group of sessions;
(e) welcome Her Majesty’s Government’s prioritising of climate change in its chairing of the G8 and its forthcoming presidency of the European Union;
(f) urge Her Majesty’s Government to provide sustained and adequate funding for research into, and development of, environmentally friendly sources of energy; and
(g) in order to promote responsible use of God’s created resources and to reduce and stabilise global warming, commend to
(i) the consumers of material and energy, the approach of ‘contraction and convergence’; and to
(ii) the producers of material and energy systems, safe, secure and sustainable products and processes based on near-zero-carbon-emitting sources.’
was carried.
THE WINDSOR REPORT: Report by the House of Bishops (GS 1570)
The Synod welcomed the Archbishop of Cape Town (the Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane) who was sitting in the public gallery.
14 The motion
‘That this Synod
(a) welcome the report from the House (GS 1570) accepting the principles set out in the Windsor Report;
(b) urge the Primates of the Anglican Communion to take action, in the light of the Windsor Report’s recommendations, to secure unity within the constraints of truth and charity and to seek reconciliation with the Communion; and
(c) assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of its prayerful support at the forthcoming Primates’ Meeting.’
was moved.
30 The amendment (Item 30 Order Paper VI) was lost.
31 The amendment (Item 31 Order Paper VI) was lost.
32 The amendment (Item 32 Order Paper VI) was lost.
33 The amendment (Item 33 Order Paper VI) was lost.
34 The amendment (Item 34 Order Paper VI) fell.
35 The amendment (Item 35 Order Paper VI) was lost.
36 The amendment (Item 36 Order Paper VI) was lost after a count of the whole Synod. The voting was as follows:
AYES 140
NOES 209
37 The amendment (Item 37 Order Paper VI) was not moved.
14 The motion (unamended)
‘That this Synod
(a) welcome the report from the House (GS 1570) accepting the principles set out in the Windsor Report;
(b) urge the Primates of the Anglican Communion to take action, in the light of the Windsor Report’s recommendations, to secure unity within the constraints of truth and charity and to seek reconciliation with the Communion; and
(c) assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of its prayerful support at the forthcoming Primates’ Meeting.’
was carried.
Text of the various amendments
Mr Tom Sutcliffe (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
30. ‘Leave out paragraph (a) and insert:
“(a) thank the members of the Lambeth Commission for their work on the Windsor Report, but regret that their Mandate did not include consideration of ECUSA’s more democratic model of “the bishop in synod” as the expression of ecclesiastical authority;”.’
Mr Tom Sutcliffe (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
31. ‘Leave out paragraph (b) and insert:
“(b) urge the Primates of the Anglican Communion to seek reconciliation within the Communion, and to acknowledge that the character of Anglicanism as an unintended imperial relic akin to the British Commonwealth should be influenced by local circumstances, which may be very different from those applying in the context of the historic Establishment of the Church of England;”.’
Whether or not item 31 is carried, the Revd Andrew Watson (London) to move as an amendment:
32. ‘In paragraph (b) after the words “to seek reconciliation” insert the words “and radical holiness”.’
Whether or not either item 31 is carried, if item 32 is not carried the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe to move as an amendment:
33. ‘In paragraph (b) after the words “within the Communion” insert the words “and with other churches”.’
Whether or not either item 31 is carried, if item 32 is carried the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe to move as an amendment:
34. ‘In paragraph (b) after the words “within the Communion” insert the words “and reconciliation with other churches”.’
Mr Tom Sutcliffe (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
35. ‘After paragraph (b) insert as a new paragraph:
“ (c) celebrate Anglicanism’s traditional emphasis on provincial and congregational responsibility, its rejection of pretensions to universality, and its commitment to theological inclusiveness and human reason; and”.
and re-letter the remaining paragraph accordingly’
The Revd Paul Collier (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
36. ‘After paragraph (b) (or (c) as the case may be) insert as a new paragraph
“ (c) (or (d)) in the light of paragraph 3.7.2 of the FOAG response to the Windsor report annexed to GS 1570, which refers to the requirement of Lambeth 1.10 that Anglicans should listen to the experiences of gay and lesbian people, urge the Primates to take practical steps to create a climate of safety within the Churches of the Communion in which lesbian and gay people can speak of their experience and theology without fear of reprisal within those Churches and that will allow voices to be heard across national and provincial boundaries in the Communion, especially in countries where homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment;”
and re-letter the remaining paragraph accordingly.’
Mr Tom Sutcliffe (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
37. ‘At the end of paragraph (c) (or (d) or (e)) as the case may be) insert the words “but recommend him not to proceed with endorsement of the Windsor Report’s proposed Covenant”.’
BBC Radio reports from the Today programme this morning, before the debates. Listen with Real Audio.
Robert Pigott reports. The General Synod, the Church of England’s Parliament, is debating women bishops again today. Listen 2 minutes
Campaigners in favour of women bishops are protesting at the Synod building of the Church of England. Jane Little is there. Listen 4 minutes
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Sermon at Holy Communion before the session
Archbishop’s speeches in the debates
Speech in Take Note debate on the theology of Women in the Episcopate
Speech moving motion on Women in the Episcopate
Speech summing up the debate on Women in the Episcopate
Reports after the debates:
Press Association Synod has Lively Debate on Issue of Women Bishops
BBC First step towards woman bishops which has links to two video clips, a report by Robert Pigott and an interview with Vivienne Faull.
Reuters Church moves towards women bishops
Telegraph ‘A thousand parishes’ oppose women bishops
Associated Press (via Beliefnet) Church of England to Consider Allowing Women Bishops
The Times Ruth Gledhill Synod paves the way towards first women bishops by 2010
Guardian Stephen Bates Welcomes and warnings in women bishops debate
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Synod overcomes dissent to pave way for women bishops
and editorial comment: A broad Church has room for women bishops
Independent Synod closer to women bishops after bitter debate
Yorkshire Post Michael Brown Women a step closer to being bishops after Synod debate